sea lamprey

American  

noun

1. Also called vampire fish.  a parasitic marine lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, that spawns in fresh water mostly along the Atlantic coasts of North America and Europe and in the Great Lakes, where it is responsible for losses of economically valuable fish.

---

sea lamprey British  

noun

1. a common anadromous lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, a form of which occurs in the Great Lakes of N America and causes great losses of fish

---

Etymology

Origin of sea lamprey

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

The sea lamprey, a 500-million-year-old animal with a sharp-toothed suction cup for a mouth, is the thing of nightmares.

From Science Daily • Feb. 21, 2024

"We found that not only are the same genes but also the same cue is involved in sea lamprey hindbrain development, suggesting this process is ancestral to all vertebrates," said Bedois.

From Science Daily • Feb. 21, 2024

"Because the number of sea lamprey has been reasonably consistent over the last 50, 60 years, we can't really study that because we don't have that variation."

From Salon • Sep. 15, 2022

Their numbers in the Great Lakes plummeted in the last century with the invasion of sea lamprey, an eel-like parasite that attaches to fish and sucks their bodily fluids.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 24, 2021

This cannot be the mustela of the antients, which is supposed to be the sea lamprey.

From Travels through France and Italy by Smollett, T. (Tobias)